Dotawo
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Dotawo was a Christian kingdom in
Lower Nubia Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...
(Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt) in the Middle Ages. It is attested in
Old Nubian Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used throughou ...
documents from the 12th to the 15th centuries. It is one of the last attested Christian states to survive in the region.


Etymology

Two proposals explain the etymology of the name of Dotawo. The first sees the name as an
Old Nubian Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used throughou ...
term meaning "Lower Daw" or the region "Below Daw"), pointing to the Old Nubian suffix -''tauo'' ("under") and the toponym "Daw," widely known from Arabic histories of Christian Nubia. The second sees the name as a calque for the old Egyptian term "Upper and Lower Egypt," proposing a combination of the Old Nubian suffixes -''do'' ("upon") and -''tauo'' ("under").


History

Modern understanding of the history of Dotawo has evolved considerably in recent generations. It had been generally held that Dotawo was one of a number of small successor states to emerge during the prolonged collapse of central government in the Christian kingdom of Makuria. A brief mention in the work of the medieval Egyptian history
al-Maqrīzī Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
was taken to indicate that prolonged fighting for control over the capital city,
Dongola Dongola ( ar, دنقلا, Dunqulā), also spelled ''Dunqulah'', is the capital of the state of Northern Sudan, on the banks of the Nile, and a former Latin Catholic bishopric (14th century). It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancien ...
, devastated that city and compelled the Nubian court to move to Daw, which some modern scholars believed to be modern
Gebel Adda Gebel Adda (also Jebel Adda) was a mountain and archaeological site on the right bank of the Nubian Nile in what is now southern Egypt. The settlement on its crest was continuously inhabited from the late Meroitic period (2nd century AD–4th cent ...
, in 1364/65. Under the first etymology of the term "Dotawo" discussed above, it might then be the Nubian state as it survived from its new capital at Daw. Even in earlier periods, prior to the collapse of Dongola, Arab writers report that Nubia was structured with thirteen lesser kings under one "Great King," and Dotawo could have been one of these vassal kingdoms. The large collection of
Old Nubian Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used throughou ...
documents found at Qasr Ibrim in the 1960s pose considerable problems for this view. The texts from Qasr Ibrim show the Eparch of
Nobatia Nobatia or Nobadia (; Greek: Νοβαδία, ''Nobadia''; Old Nubian: ⲙⲓⲅⲛ̅ ''Migin'' or ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ, ''Migitin Goul'' lit. "''of Nobadia's land''") was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia. Together with the tw ...
(northern Nubian) to be subordinate to the King of Dotawo during Makuria's peak in the 12th century. One explanation for this is that Dotawo is simply another name for Makuria. The depiction of multiple Nubian kings conflicts with the description of the region given by Arab traveler
Ibn Selim el-Aswani Abu Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Salim (or ibn Sulaym) al-Aswani ( ar, أبو محمد عبد الله ابن احمد ابن سليم الأسواني, ʿAbū Muḥammad Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Salīm/Sulaym al-Aswānī) was a tenth-century ...
. In no known document are the names of both Dotawo and Makuria present, and at several points the listed names of the king of Dotawo matches those of Makuria. The first generation of scholars to study the Qasr Ibrim finds found too many apparent conflicts between the names of the kings of Makuria and the kings of Dotawo to be satisfied with this explanation. Later study and re-editing of these texts resolved most of these apparent conflicts, and it now seems likely that "Dotawo" is the indigenous name for the central state of Nubia from at least its first attestation in the 1180s to its last attestation in the 1490s; by 2022, this position was accepted as the scholarly consensus. In 2021, it was suggested that the name "Dotawo" appears so late in the history of Christian Nubia because it referred specifically to the unified kingdom of Makuria and
Alodia Alodia, also known as Alwa ( grc-gre, Aρουα, ''Aroua''; ar, علوة, ''ʿAlwa''), was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of t ...
after a personal union between their royal families in the eleventh century.van Gerven Oei, op.cit.


See also

* Joel of Dotawo


References

*Adams, William Y. "The United Kingdom of Makouria and Nobadia: A Medieval Nubian Anomaly." ''Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam.'' Edited by W.V. Davies. London: British Museum Press, 1991. *Plumley, J. Martin. "New Light on the Kingdom of Dotawo." ''Études nubiennes: colloque de Chantilly, 2-6 juillet 1975.'' Cairo, 1978. *Ruffini, Giovanni R. "Newer Light on the Kingdom of Dotawo." ''Qasr Ibrim, between Egypt and Africa: Studies in Cultural Exchange.'' Edited by J. van der Vliet and J.L. Hagen. Leuven: Peeters, 2013. *van Gerven Oei, Vincent. ''A Reference Grammar of Old Nubian.'' Leuven: Peeters, 2021. {{coord, 22, 17, 50, N, 31, 38, 13, E, region:EG_type:city_source:kolossus-fiwiki, display=title History of Nubia Kingdom of Makuria Former monarchies of Africa